THE NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS HEAVENLY DOCTRINE

ACCORDING TO WHAT HAS BEEN HEARD FROM HEAVEN

WITH AN INTRODUCTION CONCERNING THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)

2553. 'Because I said, Surely there is no fear of God in this place' means the thought derived from this that men would have no respect for spiritual truth in that state in which they were then. This is clear from the meaning of 'the fear of God' as respect for Divine, or spiritual, truth, and from the meaning of 'a place' as a state, dealt with in 1273-1275, 1377. Involved here is the fact that man is unable to grasp any doctrine which is purely spiritual and celestial, that which is Divine, because it goes infinitely above and beyond his grasp of things, and so also above the range of his belief. All thoughts which man has are confined within natural things experienced by his senses, and anything that is said which does not draw on and does not fit in with those natural things is not comprehended but perishes, like sight gazing into some ocean or universe without any object there on which it may focus. Consequently if matters of doctrine were presented to man in any other manner, they would not be received at all, and so he would have no respect for them. This may become quite clear from each detail in the Word. There purely Divine things are for the same reason presented as natural, indeed sensory ones, such as that Jehovah has ears, eyes, and a face, has affections as man does, anger, and many more things.

[2] This was still more the case with men when the Lord came into the world. At that time they did not even have any knowledge of what the celestial or the spiritual was, nor even of anything internal. Wholly earthly and worldly, and thus external things possessed every thought in their minds, even the minds of the apostles themselves who supposed that the Lord's kingdom would be like a worldly kingdom. For that reason these asked to sit one on His right hand and the other on the left and for a long while imagined they were going to sit on twelve thrones and to judge the twelve tribes of Israel, still unaware of the fact that in the next life they would not have the power to judge even the least detail of any one individual's affairs, 2129 (end). His looking into this state of the human race was the reason why the Lord at first thought about whether the rational ought to be consulted in the doctrine of faith. In this He was moved by a love which was that the salvation of all might be taken care of and that the Word should not perish.

5577. 'In the land' means in the case of the integral parts of the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land' in the Word as the Church, and therefore here the integral parts of the Church; for whatever serves to mean the Church also means its integral parts since it is made up of these. The reason why in the Word 'the land' means the Church is that the land of Canaan was the one in which the Church had existed since most ancient times. Consequently when the expression 'the land' appears in the Word it is used to mean the land of Canaan; and when this particular land is meant one understands the Church. For when the expression 'the land' appears there, people in the spiritual world do not concern themselves with the idea of a land, only with the idea of the nation inhabiting it; yet not with an idea of that nation but with an idea of the essential nature of it. Consequently they concern themselves with an idea of the Church when 'the land', used to mean the land of Canaan, appears there.

[2] From this one may see how deluded those people are who believe - on the basis of prophetical utterances in the Old Testament, and in John in the New - that on the day when the last judgement takes place a new earth or land and a new heaven or sky are going to be created, when in fact nothing else than a new external Church is meant by 'a new earth' and a new internal Church by 'a new heaven'. These deluded people also believe that something other than the Church is meant when the expression 'the whole earth' is used in the Word. This shows how little understanding of the Word exists with those who imagine that the Word does not contain any meaning more holy than that shining out of the letter alone.

Regarding the existence of the Church in the land of Canaan since most ancient times, 3686, 4447, 4454, 4516, 4517, 5136.

Regarding 'the land' in the Word meaning the Church, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1413, 1607, 1928, 4447.

Regarding 'a new heaven and a new earth' meaning a new Church, internal and external, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355 (end), 4535.